


Bet On It

by Shippeh



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-08-17 13:12:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8145286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shippeh/pseuds/Shippeh
Summary: A casual night of cards and gambling leaves Percy and Vex alone at the table with only a deck of cards, a bit of wine, and a dying fire.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my part for tumblr's Perc'ahlia Festival of Happiness! Written for [@Shadowedhills](shadowedhills.tumblr.com/) on tumblr, for the prompt; "Playing cards/gambling and betting kisses (or sexual favors, depending on your mood)" (And thanks so much to them for arranging this entire event!)

The whole thing was Keyleth's idea. She'd been bit hard by the gambling bug and gotten five minutes into the game before throwing down a bet with her hand. Vax tried to argue; Scanlan took her bet immediately and took her money seconds later. She's not upset, and instead only laughs into her wine cup, swearing she'll get it back.

(She doesn't get it back). 

Grog tries, he really does, but tonight they're playing cards with actual numbers on them and he can't keep them straight, much less figure out what's a winning hand. Pike tries her best to help him, but even she gets frustrated when he points at her hand and says, to the entire table, “So three of those triangle letters are good, right?”

(He swears he'll pay her back the 10 gold she lost, but both of them know she'd never hold him to it).

Vax plays fair until he's three drinks in and Keyleth is sitting with nothing but two silver on the table. He's very sly about it, and nobody notices- especially because he is managing to cheat in Keyleth's favor. Eventually, though, his sister eyes him, eyes Keyleth's swiftly growing pile of money, and demands that he empty his sleeves.

(His sleeves are empty, but soon after Simon leaves tooth marks in an ace and Vex bans her twin from the game.)

Vex insists that Keyleth is out as well, because that money wasn't earned fairly, but Keyleth turns her best puppy eyes on Percy, who reminds Vex that more money on the table just means more money in her pot at this rate. It's an acceptable solution, albeit a very temporary one, because only a few short hands later Keyleth is left fingering a single copper. She tosses it into the middle, and then druidcrafts a vibrant pink flower. “Can I bet this?” she asks. When Percy takes even her beautiful flower, she drains her cup, still giggling, and leaves the table. 

(Percy wins, but Vex still ends up with the flower placed gently in her hair, a counterpoint to feathers of blue.)

Three more hands go by before Pike declares that she's tired and is going to bow out. “Scanlan, you look tired, too,” she adds, taking his cards and stacking them with her own. 

“Uh, what?” 

“You look _tired_ ,” she repeats, and for good measure she finishes what's in his glass as well as her own.

(She even pulls out his chair for him, while he's still sitting in it, confused.)

The embers of the fire spit their last efforts in the fireplace as Percy and Vex remain alone, sipping the last of the wine and dealing out a few last hands in comfortable silence. He wins one, and she wins three, before finally he folds his cards down with a sigh. “Well, I'm out.”

She's reaching for his cards to re-deal when he says it, and she pauses. “What? Why?”

He slides two gold into her large pile. “Those were the last two coins I won off of Keyleth.”

“You've nothing else?” Vex asks, even as she still shuffles the cards skillfully, dealing out between them. 

“I'm sure you know very well that I don't keep much money on me, dear.” His hand lingers over his fresh hand, ready to push it back into the deck. 

Vex picks her own hand up and eyes her cards. “Alright, if you win, I'll give you this flower back,” she says.

He eyes the pink plant in her hair, slowly picking up his cards and arranging them to his preference. “I seem to remember already winning that flower.”

Cards in one hand, Vex covers the flower carefully with another. “Doesn't look that way to me.”

He laughs, and even in the comfort of this quiet room, surrounded by friends and safety, it is a rare enough sound that Vex smiles. 

(It's possible, though, that she just has a very good hand- but Vex has never been one to gamble with tells). 

“And when you win? What would you have?” he asks, considering his cards idly.

She eyes her cards. She eyes her pile of money. She takes a drink, or tries to- and eyes the clear bottom of her empty wine glass. Finally, just as he thinks she must be about to realize there's nothing he has to offer and will give up, she says, simply, “A kiss.”

He raises his gaze and stares at her over his hand. She's staring back, earnestly. He waits to see if she is joking, but she doesn't laugh. He swallows, and wishes his own glass wasn't empty.

(He's pretty sure Keyleth finished it off nearly half an hour ago when she thought he wasn't looking).

He is slow to reply, and before he can, she runs her tongue over her top lip and lays her cards down-face up. “I've three aces,” she says simply.

He counts his cards, and his heart sinks a little. “Four of a kind,” he says, spreading them over hers. Their fingers mingle over the cards for a second, and he is shocked at how warm her hands feel, because his own skin is nearly on fire. 

She leans back in her chair, pulling the flower from her hair with a tiny, nearly silent sigh. “You chose a poor time to win, Percy,” she says, and he tries to think of anything else that could mean, because surely lady luck couldn't be playing him _this_ hard. He's still considering when she leans forward and places Keyleth's flower behind his ear instead, tucking it behind his glasses frame so that it sticks. He's sure it looks ridiculous, but he can't be bothered to care. 

She stands, kicking her chair back, and she's calling this night a loss despite the stacks of gold she has left forgotten on the table. Some games are entirely insufferable, she thought. Vex turns to leave, preparing a goodbye that doesn't sound disappointed, when a hand takes her by the elbow. 

“This is definitely cheating,” Percy says, pulling her towards him as he stands, “but I don't care.” And he kisses her. She's surprised, and it's a bad angle, tangled between chairs in dim light- it's a messy, clumsy kiss, their noses bumping, his glasses grazing her cheek. 

He pulls back after a moment, face flushed, and she's entirely out of breath as well. “Don't tell Vax,” she says hoarsely, and his heart sinks heavy for a second until she adds, “but maybe cheating isn't always so bad.” And then this time she's grabbed him by the arm, her other hand grasping his collar and pulling him back down to meet her. 

(If, later, somebody notices Scanlan handing Pike a handful of coins, nobody thinks to say anything.)


End file.
